A pensioner from Tongham who had to receive emergency medical treatment after falling in a supermarket car park was left outraged after the store issued him with a parking ticket.

Walt Nicholson, of Yeomans Way, had to go to hospital after the accident in Lidl in Farnham, only to be met later with a letter demanding £90.

When the 74-year-old appealed to the discount food giant to cancel the fine, it refused, saying their parking charges were administered by a third party company.

However after the News & Mail contacted the company Lidl cancelled the fine and apologised to the former railway worker.

“I’m absolutely disgusted by the way I have been treated,” said Mr Nicholson, who is originally from Guildford.

“This whole business has upset me a huge amount – it’s not right for people to behave like that.”

Mr Nicholson parked at the store in Dogflud Way shortly after 8.20am on Thursday December 12.

He went to fetch a trolly, but fell to the ground, cracking a bone in his back.

Fellow shoppers rushed to assist him, and helped him inside before calling an ambulance.

Paramedics then spent about an hour treating Mr Nicholson, who was shocked and in pain, while a store manager was present.

After he had regained his bearings and taken some pain killers, he attempted to do some shopping before going home.

The following day, however, Mr Nicholson was in such pain he was rushed by ambulance to Frimley Park Hospital, where doctors discovered he had a fractured back. He was not allowed home for a further four days.

“Every time I looked at that piece of paper it made me mad,” he said, referring to the penalty notice. “It said I had spent two hours and six minutes in the car park, but the allowed time was only one and a half hours.

“I spent well over an hour being treated by the paramedics, so they’re basically penalising me for my fall.”

Mr Nicholson rang the store, but was told they could not do anything to help because their parking charges were handled by a contractor.

“What they were saying didn’t help at all,” he said. “They were just washing their hands of me, even though staff from the store knew I’d had the fall.”

A spokesman for Lidl said when querying a parking fine the normal procedure was to contact the parking company directly, but added: “We acknowledge that, in this instance, Mr Nicholson should have received assistance from our customer services team with the cancellation of this penalty charge notice (PCN).

"We apologise that this wasn’t the case. The relevant people have been informed and reminded of this.

“The PCN has now been cancelled, and we would like to offer our apologies to Mr Nicholson for any distress or upset caused and wish him a swift recovery.”

Mr Nicholson said he was glad the issue had been resolved, but that it shouldn’t have happened in the first place. Two weeks after the fall he remains in extreme pain and struggles to get around.